Get to character level 81 and skill level 100 in ALL skills in a few hours!

This guide will show you how to reach character level 81 and get skill level 100 in ALL skills in a single day. No cheats or hacks, just a glitch. Works on PCs and consoles! This is definitely one of the most useful glitches in the game for players who don’t mind exploiting them.

Before we get started, be advised that to complete the quest involved in this process your character must be at level 15 or higher.

This process is carried out using a book called ‘Ohgma Infinium’. This item can be obtained by completing the quest ‘Discerning the Transmundane’, obtained from a scholar near the city of Winterhold. This book will raise all of your skills in any one of the three categories of stealth, magic or combat by 5 points (when you go to read it you will be asked to select from the options: The Path of Shadows, The Path of Magic or The Path of Might), but we’re going to show you how to use it to get all of them to level 100. If you happen to already have the book and have NOT read it yet, skip to step 5.

Step 1)

Fast travel or take a carriage to the city of Winterhold. Once you have arrived, head in the direction of the College of Winterhold, but instead of heading up the ramp leading to the entrance, head down the path to the right. Keep going down this path until you come to a river like area and begin moving across the body of water. Soon you should come across chunks of ice on the water’s surface forming a path. Head across this to the north. Sometimes you will have to swim. Eventually a symbol will appear on your compass; head towards it.

Step 2)

You will eventually arrive at a location called Septimus Signus’s Outpost. You should see a wooden door in an iceberg. Go through it and you will meet a man inside who happens to be a mad scholar. Talk to him, accept his quest and take the two items he gives you.

Be aware that this quest requires a descent into a dungeon that can be very challenging if your character is not reasonably powerful. It might be a good idea to go back into the city and stock up on some extra health potions or useful magic spells.

Follow the markers on your compass or map (make sure to enable the quest in the journal for them to appear) to reach your objective and charge the Lexicon Signus gave you.

Step 3)

Once you have the charged Lexicon, head back to the outpost and speak to Signus.

To continue past this point, you must be level 15 or higher.

You will now need to obtain blood from the following races: High Elf, Wood Elf, Dark Elf, Falmer and Orc. You can obtain Falmer and Orc from the dungeon you were just in; the Orc’s body is found in a pile of rubble in the twisting/descending staircase part of the dungeon before the fire trap.

You can obtain the blood samples from any individual in Skyrim who is of one of the required races. The easiest way to do it is to simply kill the appropriate civilians in their sleep. If you’re not that kind of character, the Elves you need can be found all over Skyrim. Serpents Bluff Redoubt has a Wood Elf there. Numerous Dark Elves can be found among groups of bandits. If, like me, you hate the Thalmor and don’t mind killing them, their embassy can be found in the mountains near Solitude in the West of Skyrim. Plenty of High Elf blood for the picking. There is also the dead body of a High Elf in Pinewatch, near the start of the dungeon.

If you would like any further advice about obtaining the blood samples please comment.

Step 4)

When you’ve obtained all the blood samples, head back to Septimus Signus’s Outpost and speak to Signus one final time to complete the quest. When the conversation with Signus and the Daedra that appears during this sequence is complete, you will be in possession of the book ‘Ohgma Infinium’. You NOT read it yet. Proceed to the next step.

Step 5)

Take the book to a container/sack that will not constitute theft for you to remove items from (if it does it will say ‘steal’) and perform the following sequence of actions:

Open the menu for the container.

Scroll down to your inventory’s books section (that’s your books, not the container’s).

Read the book to activate its effect.

DO NOT close the menu.

Place the book in the container.

Take it back out of the container, selecting: “Do Not Read” from the options you will get.

Rinse and repeat without closing the menu.

If this does not work, try it this way instead:

Go to a bookshelf.

Press the button to interact with the bookshelf.

Read the book, which is in your inventory, and close it before the path options appear on the screen.

Hit the button to store the book immediately after picking your path to place the book on the bookshelf.

Take the book off the shelf, it doesn’t matter if you close the menu to take it back, selecting: “Do Not Read” from the options you will get.

Rinse and repeat.

The second method works on the latest patch: 1.3. Tested by Luther on the Xbox 360, 15/12/11.

This can be done until you reach level 100 in all skills in the game, simply by picking a different skill category (stealth, magic or combat) each time you read the book. Or you can stop once your character level reaches 81 (max level). It’s your choice!

This video will demonstrate how it is done:

Thanks for reading! If you need any help at all please comment or post in the forums. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!

If it does not work for you and you have the 1.3 patch please use the second method which works on 1.3. I know this because I have used the second method myself on a 1.3 patched game, it worked perfectly.

Make sure that you have not read the book before you start. If it isn’t working go back to where you first got the book and try again.

Hey Luther, thanks for your reply. I’m kinda confused on what needs to happen. Can you explain it a little bit better?

*Open a bookshelf
*Read the book, select eithe
r option, like “Magic”

*After all your magics go up, hit O (on ps3) to close the book

*As soon as the book is closed, hit Square (on ps3) to store the book before the bookshelf menu appears. I kept hitting Square.

*while on bookshelf menu, go to the bookshelf at the top then take the book. Rinse repeat?

I did all that and when I go to take the book back, the book can only be read, no options to level up skills appear.

Luther, on your steps, you put select “do not read” when I take the book off the shelf, if I take a book off, it just takes it off, there’s no options to choose. Please help. been doing this for days. Thanks

To Kan
i couldn’t understand this to begin with myself. but hopefully i can make it a little clearer m8.

when i did this it was the 1st time i had used a bookshelf and therefore there were no books cluttering it up to get in my way. also it was on xbox not ps3. so if i mention any buttons to press its the xbox equivalent.

1. u have bookshelf infront of u and INFINIUM in YOUR inventory under books.

2. activate bookshelf (this brings up the menu with bookshelf and all your shit)

3. go to YOUR books and READ the INFINIUM, NOW u can select the path of might, shadow or magic.

4.press ‘B’ to close the book

5. press ‘X’ to store the book (it is now on the bookshelf)

6.press ‘B’ again to close the menu and u will now be physically looking at the book on the shelf.

7. now LOOK at the book on the shelf and press ‘A’ to read, this will give u the options again of do not read, the path of might, shadow and magic.

8. at this point u press ‘A’ again to select DO NOT READ, the options across the centre of ur screen will vanish and u will be left with the options in the bottom left corner of ur screen press ‘A’ again to select ‘TAKE’

9. now u are looking at the bookshelf with the ‘activate bookshelf’ msg on ur screen, now u repeat these steps.

hints: as far as i know the timing betweem each of the steps does not matter at all.

the main rules to follow are:
ONLY ever read the book (and select the skills u want to advance) when u r in the bookshelf menu and u have scrolled down to YOUR BOOKS. U NEVER HAVE TO DO ANYTHING IN THE ‘Book Shelf’ section of this menu.

ALWAYS PHYSICALLY REMOVE THE BOOK FROM THE SHELF, NEVER THROUGH THE MENUS, SO U GET THE OPTION TO ‘DO NOT READ’ THEN ‘TAKE’

Hope this helps m8 cos’ i’ve been typing this for ages trying 2 make sure its correct, all while i’m a bit drunk and bustin’ for a pish lol.

Search all the bandits bodies around the area, if he isn’t there I would advise going to a town and killing a citizen, preferably without getting caught, and harvest their blood. Wood elves are the hardest to find from my experience.

Try going to Liar’s Retreat, SSW of Dragon Bridge which is in the mountains by Solitude. That place has a lot of different races in it.

The majority of bookshelves in the game, I think it might be all, allow you to use them. You just need to approach one and put your cross hair on it until it says activate. If it doesn’t belong to you it will count as stealing though so be careful around guards. Find a bookshelf that allows you to take stuff off without it saying steal. When you activate a bookshelf a menu will appear, scroll down to the bottom to enter your inventory and go into the books section. Then select the book you want and it will store it on the shelf.

The bookshelf I used in the video is in the top floor of the fully upgraded Solitude home, my house. You should be able to activate all the bookshelves, move your cross hair over the entire bookshelf, mainly down the left hand side to find the activate prompt.

If your a thane of Whiterun you should be able to use the shelves in Dragonsreach.

I now have the arch mages quarters in winterhold as im now the arch mage and ive tried the container method numerous times all that happens is you level up once but you still have the book and if you try it again nothing happens it seems both methods have been patched now?

Its not patched. The version I have is 1.3.5.0 on the Xbox 360. I just got up to level 50 doing this and then I stuffed it up and read it not in the book shelf menu and it the book disappeared.
Do it slowly and carefully and try not to preempt the buttons you push.
It may take a while, probably about an hour.

This worked for me in whiterun house u own. Spent two days trying to find a bookshelf to work. Gave up and saved money to buy the home and all the upgrades. Thanks for this. Chip to answer your question yes u can

Ryan-Where was the spot you found? I am using PC and I’ve tried the bookshelves in DragonsReach. I keep pressing ‘E’ when I get close to the shelves and nothing happens-only a clicking sound. I need a bookshelf that works…any ideas anyone???

This worked for me on PS3, only issue is not all skills reached 100. I only had the Stealth skills leveled to 100 Light Armour, Speech, Alchemy, Lockpicking,Pickpocket, Sneak. Magic and Combat skills did not level what did I do wrong? has anyone experienced same as me? looking through comments it seems am the only one that have experienced this. Any help pls

The second method still works on ps3 as ive just done it. 1 you need to be in a house you own to use a bookshelf 2 it works like this:
Go to the bookshelf and activate,
in the menu what pops up go to books in your possession click read infagnium book
As it opens press cancel
Now you will have 4 choices leave alone, magic, stealth or power
Choose one of these then place book on shelf and exit menu
Next Look at the Book on the shelf(not in the menu) and press read book
When the book opens choose do not read and take the book back into your possession. Then repeat from top

I think people are writing confusing responses here and contradicting with their language of whether or not menus have to be closed, etc, etc. I am using the PC and with the latest patch…this still works. But it only works THIS way for me:

1. Any bookshelf, preferably one in your house.
2. Follow the instructions for the 2nd method in the original post. However, with modifications:
3. Active the bookshelf
4. Scroll to your inventory and read the book, but hurry up and close it before the “Path” dialogue box comes up…the key here is you need to be BACK on the Bookshelf menu when the path comes up. Otherwise it won’t work. Choose your path…and then store the book as your pathing upgrades are loading.
5. You can now close the bookshelf menu.
6. Hover your cursor at the book but don’t active the bookshelf, just READ the book again, this time the path dialogue box shows up again and choose DO NOT READ. The book will still be open in front of you…take the book (whatever button is mapped).
7. Repeat steps 4-6 that I just posted.

The best way is to close that menu after the first time you get the path, after you’ve stored it…and then hover over it and choose “read” and when you get the path dialogue box…bingo…you’re good…just choose DO NOT READ and you’re on your way.

The key here is people are not articulating the steps properly. I used all my save games trying to follow these steps and saving at various points. The sticking point was that I was NOT closing the bookshelf menu and then focusing in on the book to “read” it. Hence like everyone else, the “path” dialogue box never came back up so I also figured it didn’t work. But combinging the text from a few posters, I arrived at the steps I just posted and it works 100%.

Also there’s a wood elf in the same dungeon as the dead Orc if ur interested in saving time. It can be found hidden down a small passage marked by a pool of blood. This way one only has to fast travel to 3 locations for blood samples instead of 4.

Hey I have invested hours into this glitch, got the book (unread) and tried the bookshelf method in dragonsreach (i dont own a house) but the bookshelf WILL NOT activate. I have PS3, read alot of forums about this seems only answer anyone has had is that it works on ‘all’ ‘most’ or ‘some’ bookshelfs, well it works on NONE in my game.
Question: if I buy a house, will the bookshelf ‘activate’ there?? or am I wasting my time. I think my version will have latest patch as my machine is online. I started the honeydew manor quest in riften but gave up when I realized I had to do 2-3 more quests after the skooma gig.
Games getting gltchy now too… tempted to box it up and flick it off if I cant get anywhere with this…
Thanks very much in advance to whoever can assist!

Ok thanks for your reply Luther, I now own Honeyside… but the only bookshelf in the place still wont ‘activate’?? there was a book and bucket on the shelf, and I even took them off to empty it. Nothing happens when I scroll my cursor all over the shelves!! I click the X button too but nothing!
dam I reckon they have fixed this now, anyone else done it on PS3 recently??? Is there another option that works? I tried the container method, book disapears everytime. I’m about to give up and just read the book anyway.

Theres a ruin just west of dawn star. Fast travel to Dawnstar head west you will be attacked by a traveler and a Dragon by the first camp. Just past there You will come to a ruin called MZsomthing, all blood lines are found there accept Altmer. Just hit the embassy and kill the 3 outside. Done deal.

Well I got it to work first time round, it took me 25 minutes to get to level 81 from 33, but just remember guys, spend your perks intelligently, as I didn’t and now I’m stuck with poor perks. + I also think once your level 81, you may aswell put your gameplay to novice as their is nothing else to level up and it will make the game allot better to play as a dragon doesn’t take 100 arrows to kill for example, it takes 10. Thanks for this Luther much appreciated!… *HIGHLY RECOMMENDED*

Hey. I cant charge the lexicon. All I have are two buttons that ativate once the lexicon is in place on the right hand side & when i press them nothing happens, its still blank. What am I doing wrong? or have to do first?

I completed discerning the transmundane weekes ago and was never aware that you could exploit the oghma infinium. I searched the outpost again and my inventory and my chest in my house and cannot find the book anywhere. Is there any way to get the book again or do I have to start a new game to take advantage of it?

You have to click the second one until the third button unlocks, then click the next to lest button until the lest one unlocks, then click the last one until the elder scroll is produced. Go get the elder scroll and come back to get the lexicon cube. Then go to the glacier to start the blood quest.

Yeah this works tried it today on fully updated game on xbox. I did it in the first house you can get in whiterun just go to your book self and do it there. In your items open the book and hit B really fast and then the button to store on book self you have to do it fast or it wont work. Then once book is on self just take it and repeat from your items. If you read it and choose skill befor its on book self the book will disappear. If that happens just load it back up from when you came into the house. I only used it to inprove some skills so this was really great.

i just completed the quest and i followed sigmus into the object and he he said only a book and turned to ash… there was no dialogue between him and any daedra and now my only option is to read the book. It is on the stand right now and I do not have the option to take it….only read…

I was doing the infinium book glitch at breezehome on the bookshelf and messed up/read it on the shelf and it disappeared.:( got to level 73 and accidentally autosaved bringing back up the menu screen. which overwrit my auto save entering breezehome. it was my only save with the oghma infinium. once used, is it forever gone? are there any other methods to gain it back. other than restarting a new game lol (I SUCK AT SAVING)

i can’t find any bookshelf to use, could you help to find any of those? because there’s no ‘activate’ command there’s just ‘search’ command in all bookshelf, and when i try the glitch using a container it failed

If youre quick with getting the book off the bookcase as they appear, you can catch another glitch where it givea you multiple books (but be careful, sometimea thd books will disappear from the shelf and your inventory).

Big problem! I picked up the Ohgma Infinium, but didn’t know to look for the Elder Scroll. So I never picked it up, went back to White Run and had some more adventures. Then discovered I needed the Elder Scroll and came back to the tower. But now I don’t have that cube thing and can’t reactivate the gizmo to reveal the Elder Scroll. Any tips?

I messed up a few times because I tried it with a different container–a wardrobe–and it only works with a bookshelf. So anyone who’s having trouble, keep that in mind along with what everyone else said above!

P.S. If anyone is having trouble finding a Wood Elf, go to the Alftand Animonculory–there’s a side room that’s easy to miss where you can find the body of Endrast, a Bosmer member of the trapped party of explorers. It’s down a little channel that’s between two gate-like walls, and it’s early on in the Animonculory, maybe first or second room.

i must be some special kind of stupid, i’m trying to work this but for some reason it will not do me any justice, I have a xbox and if i can get a simple step by step method using the abxy button method i would just be as happy as a webble loves a wobble. Or if any one can help me with this here is my number 706-315-0113 holla at a fellow gamer.